Safe Water Network is increasing access to safe water in Ghana by pioneering a technology platform for sustainable management of community-level water infrastructure. In partnership with PrismX, and with support from the Cisco Foundation, we developed and deployed a cloud-based Digital Operating Platform.
Safe Water Network water stations are community operated, but require regional support and utilize several different operational and financial systems to keep the water flowing. As more stations were added to Safe Water Network’s portfolio across Ghana, we needed a central data management solution to efficiently operate and supervise the community water supply systems across the country. We created a digital operating backbone that provides real time visibility into operations, finance, sales, and community engagement activities on a single platform.
A human-centered design helps operators and field service officers make informed decisions with convenient access to data from a tablet or phone and allows them to be more responsive to the needs and preferences of the communities they serve. Convenient access to data from a tablet or phone allows them to be more responsive to the needs and preferences of the communities they serve. Automated validation tools built into the system flag when an error is made and notifies the local station operator without intervention from the field service team. Push notifications provide alerts when routine maintenance is required, or when a parameter is operating outside normal ranges.
The platform was rolled out to Safe Water Network’s portfolio of 100+ water stations in Ghana reaching nearly half a million people. Time spent by field officers reviewing data went down by 50%. As the field team became more available and responsive, community members were more satisfied. They felt their needs were being addressed and their voices were being heard.
At Safe Water Network, we keep the water flowing through innovative tools like our digital operating platform. We believe the global water crisis can be solved through innovation and partnerships.
“Safe Water Network’s best practices and processes honed over a decade and a half of excellence in the field institutionalized in this Digital Platform, it’s scalability, the simplicity of onboarding Safe Water Enterprises, makes it a potential game changer in the clean drinking water delivery agenda in Ghana and beyond.”
Joy Dasgupta, CEO, PrismX